Book Review Club: Dark Fire

DARK FIRE
by C. J. Sansom
Historical Mystery

The second Matthew Shardlake Mystery finds the hunchbacked lawyer once again working for Henry VIII's chancellor, Lord Cromwell. This time Matthew is on a search for a supply of Greek Fire unearthed in the demolition of a London monastery. But before he can get close, people involved start dying and Matthew himself is targeted.

Cromwell sends him a helper/bodyguard in the form of Jack Barak, the descendant of a converted Jew. Barak is Cromwell's man, but he comes to respect Matthew and they start to work well together.

A secondary plot involves the niece of one of Matthew's clients who is accused of murdering her young cousin. Matthew and her uncle believe she is innocent, but she refuses to defend herself. Cromwell's interference buys her, and Matthew, some time to save her life, as long as Matthew finds the dark fire first. In the meantime, Matthew flirts with Lady Honor, a wealthy widow, and gets assistance from his friend Guy Malton, an apothecary and former monk.

Sansom paints a detailed picture of life in 16th century London from the fading glories of the monasteries to the ordure in the streets. We see the splendor in wealthy households and the extreme poverty of the masses. Barak helps Matthew to examine his own attitudes toward those "beneath" him, much to Matthew's dismay. Jack is a good addition to the series and I hope to meet him again in later mysteries.

The search for Greek fire is entirely fictional, but in the Author's Note, we learn that dark fire, as it was also called, was apparently crude petroleum the Greeks found bubbling out of the ground in the Middle East. The Byzantines knew of it and developed some kind of apparatus that allowed them to use it as a weapon, sort of a Medieval flame thrower. After the fall of Byzantine Constantinople, the method of making Greek Fire disappeared. Sansom's fictional alchemists search in vain for the formula for dark fire, not realizing that oil from the Middle East is the main ingredient.

I found the story very interesting, and I like Matthew as a sleuth and as a man. Recommended for fans of historical mysteries.

Linda

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@Barrie Summy

Book Review Club: Dissolution

Dissolution
by C. J. Sansom
Penguin, 2003

Published in 2003, this is the first in Sansom's Matthew Shardlake mystery series, set in Tudor England during the Reformation period. The title refers to Henry VIII's dissolution of the Catholic nunneries and monasteries. It is Sansom's first published novel. It was nominated for two of the Crime Writers' Association Dagger awards in 2003.

Matthew Shardlake is a unique character, a hunchbacked lawyer in 16th c. England. He is also a religious reformer. It opens with Matthew being summoned by Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's vicar-general who is in charge of dissolving the Catholic monasteries to protect the new Church of England. One of Cromwell's commissioners, Robin Singleton, was murdered while trying to convince the abbot of Scarnsea Abbey to voluntarily surrender his house. Matthew is sent to investigate Singleton's murder, accompanied only by Mark Poer, the son of Matthew's father's steward. Mark is an intelligent but argumentative young man who at times proves more hindrance than help.

The situation at Scarnsea proves more complicated than Matthew anticipated, and before he can solve one murder, another has happened. That one leads to the revelation that a young servant girl had also been murdered several years eariler. There is no dearth of suspects among the monks. Is it stern Prior Mortimus, who runs the abbey with a firm, and at times, brutal hand? Or Abbot Fabian who has much to lose? Then there's Brother Edwig, the burser, who seems to be hiding something in the account books. And sensitive Brother Gabriel who fights his "unnatural" passions. Matthew finds assistance from the infirmarian, Brother Guy, a Spaniard of Moorish descent, and his assistant Alice, a beautiful young servant girl. But is it possible one of them is hiding a murderous heart?

I really enjoyed this book, as much for the religious aspects as the mystery, which kept me guessing. Matthew Shardlake is a great character: intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate yet eaten up by frustration and resentment because of his physical disability. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series.

Author bio:
C. J. Sansom earned a Ph.D. in history and, before becoming a full-time writer, was a lawyer. Dissolution is his first novel. He lives in Sussex, England, where he is working on further Matthew Shardlake mysteries.

You can read an interview with him at the Penguin USA website.

Linda

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@Barrie Summy